Anyone here do mastering?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nightfire
  • Start date Start date
The songs on the soundclick wont be the ones being mastered. Im recording re-tracking everything, one track at a time and some friends are chipping in with harmonies etc. My music is simple, my guitar playing isnt oustanding, and my equipment is crude but I still like to write songs. Im not looking for commercial succes, Im looking to put out something that I am proud of and that I know I did my best on. My voice isnt the greatest, and yes I dont always sing in tune (unintentionally). This is HOME-recording after all.


Mike
 
I guess that's where the confusion occurred. After a poster asked you if you have samples of the way they sound now, you pointed them to your mp3 page. It wasn't a leap on anybody's part to assume that you meant these tracks were what you wanted mastered - and you got good advice (i.e., don't bother mastering these particular tracks).

Now, some 20 posts later, you tell us that these aren't the tracks you want mastered.

See how some of us may have gotten a bit confused?
 
Yes I get what you mean, sorry I wasnt clear enough. In post #7 I thought I had clarified it. The second poster asked for mp3 samples so I figured Id show my demos to see the style/quality of the recordings. My bad.

Mike
 
mshilarious said:
Dude, to be blunt, mastering would be a waste of money. You need to fix those tracks first. The vocals need to be retracked or tuned, or both. With your vocal style, you will have to heavily compress it, probably with some presence boost too. The vocal mix is totally up front, you should verb that in the mix. All the acoustics sound like they were recorded direct. On "You Will Be Fine", there is a flub in the first few notes of the solo. Punch that and fix it! During the intro, the solo guitar is panned hard left, but there is no room noise at all on the right, so when the other guitars enter, it sounds really weird. At the end of that track, while the bass and a little bit of guitar are still sustaining, there is audible noise, like a page turning or something. Mute that track, or the ME would have to cut the tail hard. You should compress the bass to get it punchy; otherwise the ME would be forced to break out a multiband, which is not as desirable.

Why would you want to pay someone when they can't fix this stuff? Only you can.
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Wish we could get responses like that in the MP3 clinic! :(
 
Nightfire said:
My voice isnt the greatest, and yes I dont always sing in tune (unintentionally). This is HOME-recording after all.


Mike
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You see you are already making the mistake of linking 'singing not in tone' to 'HOME-recording'.
It isn't that important to sing in tune all the time, but indeed most of the time, and you do so.

When you sing out of tone (or tune whatever :D )
it sounds often more natural. Not forced by any music teacher or Idol jury.


(Very important fokes the discussion of Led Zeppelings (oops) starting a band, I meant the year that they stopped it was 1982, but now someone will come and say it is 1983.) :D
 
nightfire, your "crude equipment" isn't the weak link. i promise. i'm not being mean but you need some practice before thinking about recording, much less mastering. your writing is far above your performance. get your performance up to par with the writing and then do the same for the recording/mixing, if that's the sound you're shooting for. mastering is the last stop. if this is a scratch track, fine. i don't see retracking fixing the performance issues to the point of being ready for mastering.

as big of an ignoranass that nononsense! came off as, i know what he's saying. i've been tired of hearing ultra polished product music for a while. there's a lot of music out there that has character due to rough performances and recordings that i'd much rather listen to. i'd rather hear a recording chocked full of heart and character that was miked poorly and hisses than the same song all polished up that comes off kind of cold. it's more about the person and song coming across in the music than the sound for me i guess. if the character of the person and song can survive the process of getting high quality sound, that's icing on the cake.
 
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TravisinFlorida said:
if the character of the person and song can survive the process of getting high quality sound, that's icing on the cake.
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rephrase that: bonus if the sound compliments the music. "the sound" could be a ratshack mic thru a tape recorder or big budget studio production. the sound has to compliment the person/song/performance in a way that pushes the human feel across.

now i'm sounding like a dirty hippy. :p
 
that being said... and no disrespect at all to you.. you have to put alot more of you in the vocals.. it sounds like you're holding back on these songs and the songs are good... just belt it out.. who cares if you're completely on key as long as you get the mood right... trust me.. just let yourself go and it'll be really good. Some of us will never be amazing singers but that doesn't mean we can't write amazing songs that will complement our voices and make amazing soungs...
 
saying that hayden is a good singer is rediculous.. you missed the entire point of what we were talking about..


look at it this way.. is neil young a good singer? hells no.. did he write some amazing songs that worked with his voice you're damn right he did...

that's the same kinda school that hayden falls into.. and what is being suggested about this poster.. but i was just saying if he's going to go this route he has to pour more emotion into his songs because he's not quite there yet.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
nightfire, your "crude equipment" isn't the weak link. i promise. i'm not being mean but you need some practice before thinking about recording, much less mastering. your writing is far above your performance. get your performance up to par with the writing and then do the same for the recording/mixing, if that's the sound you're shooting for. mastering is the last stop. if this is a scratch track, fine. i don't see retracking fixing the performance issues to the point of being ready for mastering.
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Thank you for your honesty, I wish people would say this kind of stuff in the clinic more.
By "performance" do you mean voice or guitar? I know Im only strumming chords, do you mean I should try writing actual guitar parts etc.?
Thanks eeb for you advice, Im a shy singer and honestly have tried to convince my brother to rec. the voice on all the songs. I know my voice isnt my strong part but I guess your right, I wont let it stop me.
Once again, thanks for all the good advice from everyone.


Mike
 
OK, you know what? I suck at drums, real bad. But I spend money on Zildjian Ks anyway because I like the way they sound. I record what I want to hear, so it doesn't worry me any. My vocals aren't great. I can play guitar and bass though, and a few other instruments, but I usually give myself 300 takes to get them right.

So? Well, if you are recording for yourself, don't worry about it. But there are two things that make me think you aren't recording for yourself. #1, it's a well written song. #2, you want to pay to have it mastered.

See, I could make my tracks a lot better if I hired a drummer, but they aren't for public consumption, so I don't care. But if I went to pay someone else to work on my tracks, drums would be the first thing I'd hire. Vocals second :o

So if you are happy with your own performance, then learn how to self-master. If you want to spend money to make your tracks better, mastering is not the place I would start.
 
mshilarious said:
If you want to spend money to make your tracks better, mastering is not the place I would start.
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This kind of sums it up for me. Thanks for all the comments toward the middle of this thread. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. ---------

Hey Nightfire, hang around here and read a bunch. You'll start to put it together.

------------------Oh the humanity!!! Was the Hindenburg actually a Zeppelling?
 
Nightfire said:
Thank you for your honesty, I wish people would say this kind of stuff in the clinic more.
By "performance" do you mean voice or guitar? I know Im only strumming chords, do you mean I should try writing actual guitar parts etc.?
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It's touchy stuff to tell someone what you think about their music. You seem pretty well grounded in reality so I figured you wouldn't freak out on me. :D

I hear a few things wrong with the vocals. First, I don't hear you. I hear you spouting words but I'm not feeling it at all. Were you feeling it when you sang the vocal track? Second, it sounds like you might not be hearing exactly what's being recorded. Bad monitor mix while tracking? A good monitor mix is very important. Then the dynamics and pitch. That comes with a lot of experience. I think most people will come into their own with enough experience. Sing a lot. Find things that you can sing well and start there.

As far as the guitar playing, the dynamics are a little hairy here and there, especially those high G's.

I think what would help you the most is playing and singing a lot. You'll figure out where you're going flat or sharp and when you're dynamics are getting screwy.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
It's touchy stuff to tell someone what you think about their music. You seem pretty well grounded in reality so I figured you wouldn't freak out on me. :D

I hear a few things wrong with the vocals. First, I don't hear you. I hear you spouting words but I'm not feeling it at all. Were you feeling it when you sang the vocal track? Second, it sounds like you might not be hearing exactly what's being recorded. Bad monitor mix while tracking? A good monitor mix is very important. Then the dynamics and pitch. That comes with a lot of experience. I think most people will come into their own with enough experience. Sing a lot. Find things that you can sing well and start there.

As far as the guitar playing, the dynamics are a little hairy here and there, especially those high G's.

I think what would help you the most is playing and singing a lot. You'll figure out where you're going flat or sharp and when you're dynamics are getting screwy.
Click to expand...

Great post!!!
 
Not to be too harsh dude, but unless you can do a significantly better job singing in that register, raise the key of the song. The first portion of the song sounds awful. It wouldn't be hard to sing an octave higher. I don't know if you've already thought of this, but give it a try.

And after that, don't bother paying for mastering services on anything you record at home. You'll be better off having someone on the forum bring up levels and apply some beneficial EQ if you can't do it yourself. Otherwise, work on making your mix louder and better sounding. It's all been said, I know.
 
All kidding aside, forget the mastering for now, re-track, throw out
(or better yet, put aside for later consideration) the tracks that you
don't feel good about, and if your spirit flags, listen to Led Zeppelin's
"All of my Love" (?) and dig the awful, off-key singing of R. Plant in the chorus
refrains. Wow! Wasn't J. Page right there in the studio to stop his old
pal that day? Of course, this song is played endlessly on "classic rock"
radio stations--the worst Zep song ever recorded. The irony is is that the
song is a tribute to Plant's young son, who died in an accident (I think).
The low point in the legend's storied career.
Actualy, skip the Zep and listen to Neil Young's record "Comes A Time."
Now here's someone with minimal vocal skills using them wisely and well.
 
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